Bab 78: Shipbuilding

Felipe came out of the dungeon as he had a butcher apron full of Blood, and his naked arms and face were also full of Blood.

The Screams started the moment they arrived back at the Embassy at midnight.

Outside the door were the ambassador and 2 Footmen and 2 Maids, all Colombian.

Felipe slowly took his Apron off and was only on a tank top and shorts; either way, it showed his muscles and everything related. He slowly put the Apron on a hanger to his left side and then began removing his shoes and socks, dripping with Blood.

"Give him a catholic Funeral… in the backyard… then we see if we move his body," Felipe said while not looking at anyone in specific.

"Understood," Aurelio said as he just looked at the floor.

That was the duality of the young boy in front of him; he knew that side of Felipe pretty damn well, so much so that he was always able to see through such a façade. Most of the Senators also knew the very true face of the prince.

"Clean the blood before it spoils… the government palace in Caracas began to stink in less than two days…" Felipe said as he began to leave without acknowledging anyone, and no one would say anything.

Aurelio slowly moved into the door and looked inside.

"…" He closed his eyes and put his hand over his mouth, trying not to vomit.

Inside, there was a body without most limbs, and the limbs were chopped into multiple more pieces, showing the fact that he was cut slide by slide.

The Poor guy had spent most of his time fainting but was awoken by stimuli.

"There will be bonuses… for this," Aurelio told the staff.

The Maids and the Footmen did not say anything and just nodded.

Felipe's reputation was quite good across the Empire. He never mentioned that he went through things by force of a sabre when overly frustrated. Yet, a normal person would be shocked to witness his nature and how scary he could become.

Next day.

Felipe was quietly looking at the Jasmine flower slowly open in a tranquil teapot.

He was back on Leaden hall Street at the headquarters of the East India Company, where he had already met with the Prime Minister, the Director, and the Chairmen.

Unlike the first time meeting them, the ambience was chaotic, while the tea was calm.

"No," Felipe said as he looked at them.

"I'm not interested in that. The terms of the condition were put on paper." Felipe thought for a while after hearing the new conditions that the United Kingdom was imposing for the basic exportation of Irish into the Colombian Empire. "It is not a negotiation; you would reject my offer."

"We will co-pay for a million Irish to move to your country. You have to give us some type of headway." The Minister of Foreign Affairs said.

"Yes! That was my lead way: the Colombian Empire can not sustain this debt… we do not have enough boats… which is why we ask for the East India Corporation. But from the British Government, everything that I have is the ability for you to evade the war, and by the look of the lords and members of your party here, it seems that you are more than willing to export all the Catholic Irish from Ireland… you have a need, and you are looking at me to pay a more crazy amount while instead, you should be paying me." Felipe chuckled, "Even though I need immigration in my Empire, I am not desperate for Irish. I would prefer Italians or Greeks, to be honest… Spaniards that would be better; at least they would speak the same language as the common man."

Felipe paused as he got up and went to the table to review the documents.

"We will be importing Ireland. It will be hard to culturally assimilate that amount of people even through the years; this means their problems will become mine, their allegiances will become our problem, and I am rather fine with that, but I need them to be able to survive a live there and not spent their entire fortune on a passage."

Felipe paused a bit, and he looked at the land of the Catholics on an Irish Map.

"All that land will be up for grabs—cheap land, an easy out from new lords to build their new Castles on... stability in that land and possible allegiance to the United Kingdom."

"The United Kingdom will be losing taxpayers." The Prime Minister said in a serious tone.

"70% of the Catholic Irish are living in what you can consider poverty. The opportunities for them are non-existent… most of them do not pay taxes and hate the King and the government for the Tax of that little they have… you take all the food they produce, let them eat potatoes… Gentlemen… you need me… you might just send them to a far land, far away from a colony… but that will not have the same effect that offering land and creating the façade of inviting them to come vs forcing them to go will have on the colony… USA 2… all I have to say, you rather the Americans getting the Irish Immigration or a friendly nation which from said deal we will be getting what each other wants?"

There was silence as they all looked weird, not knowing what to say next. The idea of exporting 1/5 of all Irish People abroad was already planted; they could do nothing. Congress was interested, the lords were interested, and even the King became interested when people mentioned the idea to him.

"Your Majesty… the East India Corporation is not a charity; we require profit… but as you have said, we have come to good faith to negotiate with Your Majesty." One of the Chairman said as he looked like he was halfway into the tomb.

"The fact is that a ship costs 22 thousand pounds to manufacture, and with the volume which your Majesty wants to import Irish People, we would need an extra number of ships, so we will be making new ships for the sake of selling the services at cost without much profit to our stakeholders… I suppose Your Majesty wants to chip 10 thousand people a month…. That is 1 thousand people every three days…. 300 people every day… a ship would be able to hold 150 Passengers to the Americas… South America. 2 Ships would have to leave port every year for the numbers you are looking at to make it real…. 5 weeks to send them and another two months to return… so 336 Ships to carry out your Majesty's plan." The man said, "That is 7.4 Million pounds… around 100% of what Your Majesty would have gotten in loans from the Bank of England over the years."

"…" Felipe did not say much and looked to the table pointlessly.

"The Colombian empire does not have ships… but we have invested in the manufacturing of ships… if instead of a venture, we create a sub company where the boats will be owned each on each side with a requirement of at least 50% of the ships flying the Imperial Flag alongside with the one of the company, then I would not worry… that means a full creation of a passenger company… while at the same time investing in the shipbuilding capacities of the Empire… we are already making great strides… we will be Finishing 30 by the end of the year... which is a lot, but we have been working of them for 5-6 years for planning," Felipe said seriously.

"A company would require the lowest-priced ship to acquire… if your empire can not match the prices at which the East India Company can obtain, even with positions on them, there would be nothing we can do."

"I understand, the price will not be an issue… matching 22 thousand pounds will be hard, but in the face of improving the shipbuilding capacities of the Empire, we are willing to invest in it… and of course, we will be buying ourselves as part of the investment we will be producing." Felipe adds, "Of course, the shares will be split 40-40 with the rest for the Free Market to desire, especially for lords and high-up people with this information, but the controlling shares would be split 50-50 between the Aragon Family and the East India Company."

"…"

All the lords suddenly understood the very backhanded tactics of Felipe in which they could not say no.

The Director looked at Felipe for a while, feeling like he had taken the biggest plate of food he had seen and split it into two. Yet, he looked at the Lords and saw their Greed, including the Prime minister's.

The UK government will be entering into a contract with this new company alongside the Empire of Colombia.

"Gentlemen, it seems there is indeed a place to talk," The Director said enthusiastically.

"I would love to discuss the possibility of the empty ship being filled with Colombian Goods on its way back," Felipe added. "And the tariffs that the UK would impose on these goods would take longer and require way more investment for them to be produced at the current level we do."

"…" The men in the room suddenly realized they could make even more money. Their influence on the South American continent would be at an all-time high. It was truly a win-win situation.